Agenda item

To consider any items called-in by the requisite number of Members following the previous Executive meeting.

- Adoption of the Homelessness Review and Strategy 2013-18

The Commission considered the report calling in the decision to adopt the Homelessness Review and Strategy 2013-2018.

The Homelessness Review and Strategy 2013-18 was presented for consideration at a meeting of the Executive on 9 May 2013. The recommended action was to adopt the review and strategy which the Executive duly did. Councillor Vickers explained to the Commission that a scrutiny review had identified a number of recommendations to be considered as part of the revised strategy. Due to the lack of a formal response from the Executive it was not clear why the recommendations had not been adopted.

Councillor Goff suggested that clarification was required in order to understand how the recommendations had been considered as part of the revised strategy.

Following questioning, Councillor Roger Croft and Mel Brian were able to provide the following:

·        An update report was presented to the Commission at the meeting held on the 16 April 2013. Within the report a response was given on each of the recommendations issued from the review;

·        The strategy considered strategic recommendations only. Not all recommendations, some of which were about operational matters, could form part of the revised document;

·        In response to the recommendation made at the Homelessness review in November 2012 a new suite of leaflets was created. Feedback suggested that the format and information was useful and beneficial;

·        The consultation results had not been distributed as part of the review process. The results consisted of six responses in total, of which five had referred to factual amendments. For this reason sharing the results of the consultation was not considered beneficial.

The Commission conveyed its disappointment that the review failed to distribute the consultation results and provide the output from the review in a formal and structured manner.  

Members of the Commission agreed that a formal response was required in respect of each of the recommendations issued from the review. It was debated whether the strategy could be adopted without a formal response and the ramifications if delayed further.

RESOLVED that the strategy be adopted and a formal response be provided to each of the recommendations made following the scrutiny review.